[Alpharius]

(01-10-2016 07:46 PM)MikeS Wrote:  

A machete would be one of my picks too... After the downfall of civilized society when openly carrying weapons in large sizes and quantities seems like the smart thing to do when taking a stroll downtown. Or if I'm hiding from aggressive muslim hikers in a forest.

Don't hold your breath.

Place a higher focus on knowledge, fitness, game, and wealth. Until such time as the world ends you should act as though it intends to spin on.

[rpg]

A couple of things I picked up through law enforcement. Hair spray and a lighter. Instant flame thrower. A bottle with bleach disguised as a water bottle squirted in the face. Just don't accidentally drink it! A spray can of oven cleaner. Carburetor cleaner. All kinds of normal items make excellent weapons. Don't stick around. Run like hell.

[RexImperator]

In the UK, what about a wooden Cricket bat?

I'm partly joking but it does indeed seem like it could come in rather handy.

[spi]

I saw this thread and was going to suggest a high powered compact flash light but its been mentioned already. It needs to be at least 65 lumens or higher as that is when the eye reacts involuntarily to light and leaves those black/purple after image blind spots so you can gtfo.

(01-08-2016 02:05 AM)Peregrine Wrote:  

Stumbled across this thread and did a quick skim. Some good advice, and some horrible advice too.

Based on your criteria of...

-Carry on your person all the time, so small and concealable.
-Easy to obtain and maintain
-Not technically illegal (overlap with above)
-Has decent fatality potential
-Has crowd control capability
-Fast and easily deployed
-Has decent range

The following are the best weapons, in descending order:

1. Situational awareness
2. Situational awareness
3. Situational awareness
4. Body language that projects "go fuck with someone else"
5. 300m dash time
6. Self defense training (I prefer krav)
7. Strong compact flashlight 200+ lumens, no "self defense" bezel necessary, carried in a way that can be deployed with minimal delay

Pretty what I was going to post. Although if it does have a scalloped bezel, I don't see how that would harm.

OP, you said you training in a martial art, what is it? Unless you have been in a fight, its important to make sure the class you attend does sparring.

I do krav as well and its all fine and good, but its only at a sparring class that I realised I'd still get my ass kicked in a fight with a trained fighter.

[H1N1]

Sparring is better than nothing, but people come to it differently. For me personally, sparring is play, and I come to it with that mind set. Some people may be able to go all out and try to hurt their friends and gym buddies in a training situation, but for me personally, I can't really get up for sparring in the same way. Put me in a competitive situation with a fighter I don't know in a gym I'm not loyal to, and I'm a totally different fighter, unrecognizable in skill and intent, from the guy you'd see in the ring at my gym with my stable mates.

The point being, play sparring, without real serious intent to hurt the Tucker in front of you, can only ever be of limited value. Better than nothing, but it can give you a false confidence.

[Parzival]

I agree, with sparing you are in a chill mode. You know when it start, you play by rules. Your mind is complete different compare to a unprepared attack on the street. I like sparing but its more a chess game then a assault what will happen to you on the street.
And this is the big point, you can not keep your mind alert all the time because you will get paranoid. So the situation awareness is your friend. Sparring is only good when you go all out but who want it? Almost nobody. They want to train with their moves, not with a wild rage hitting attacker. Can you switch your mind from normal to attack when you get in a dangerous situation? Can you throw punches for 1 minute? Not slow, I mean high speed punches. Hit a heavy bag for 1 minute and see how far you get. Even good boxer can not keep it up for a long time but this is what you need more.
All the moves you learn in material arts are nice, but to stop a guy that don't care and want to break your nose. He will mostly do it. On the streets you mostly don't get one or two hits. You get a blow of hits. Can you hit fast back?
Technique is not that important, just a chain of punches. Better with the open hand and no fist. Most people will break their fist anyway.

All the material arts expect that you are aware of the attack, when the attacker do X you do Y. He has to be in this distance and so on. Sparing teach you that not everything work. A brawl in a bar give you mostly to time to react. An assault don't. What will you do then?